


Snap

by CaptchaBlog



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, and kissing, and they're in their underwear, cuties being cuties, just read it, some frottage, ya know, youll get it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 21:23:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/905092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptchaBlog/pseuds/CaptchaBlog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was stuck without wifi for a few days in a foreign country.<br/>This is what happens when people ask me to write things and I have way too much time to think about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snap

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clockworkarithmetic.tumblr.com](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=clockworkarithmetic.tumblr.com).



> This piece was written for clockworkaritmetic.tumblr.com!  
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

For clockworkarithmetic

You can't believe you forgot your swimsuit. What did Dave say? What was the thing he said to you? 

Something along the lines of "don't forget your damn swimsuit." Yeah that was pretty much it. Exactly.

You must have cringed a little because he turns to you slightly from the drivers seat.

"There a problem there, Egbert?"

You sigh and run a hand through your hair. "No, not really. I just forgot something."

He quirks an eyebrow at you, steadily holding the steering wheel in place as you cruise down the country road. 

"Oh yeah? What?"

You squirm a little. "Nothing. Just some sunscreen."

Dave turns back forward, chuckling lightly. "Well don't you worry those pretty little spectacles, I got some on me."

"Thanks," you mutter grudgingly as you yawn, looking down at your lap. You'll tell him when you get there. "I think I'm gonna sleep for a bit."

"Go 'head," he smirks, "I got this all under control."

You turn away from him to stare out the tinted windows, watching the scenes pass by. It's a wooded road, occasionally sprinkled with the flowery, open fields. It's early. Extremely early. The sun hasn't even started to show over the treetops, so everyone is still asleep- the windows are dark in the few houses that you pass by.

Dave had gotten you up at some god-awful hour of the morning, jumping up and down on your bed.

\---

"John John John John JOHN Johnjohnjohnjohnjo-"

"Ohmygod WHAT," you had reached out and swatted at his leg, which brought him to an immediate stop. "It's three in the morning!"

"Got any tests today?" He pushed your shoulder roughly and stared at you, waiting for a response.

You pulled the sheets over your head and groaned. "Ugh… I don't know? For the love of god, WHY?"

He grinned mischievously. "I found it, John! I found the camping spot. On Google maps of all places."

You pulled the covers down and eyed him cautiously. "I worry about you sometimes."

"No, dude, shut up for two seconds," he punched you and sat down next to you, "Remember that sweet camping spot Bro would always take me to for, like, weeks at a time to train?"

"Well I remember you telling me about it, yeah, but I've obviously never BEEN-"

"Now you're going to!" He beamed and jumped up, switching on your bedside lamp. "Now come on, get up. We leave in twenty minutes."

"What? Dave, no. Worst roommate EVER," you complained, throwing the sheets over your head again. At that, he promptly grabbed your pillow from under your head and assaulted you with it until you had sat up and flicked him off.

"Aw, love you too babe," he had said as he patted you once on the ass, turning away. You blushed a little and tried to hide it as he left.

"Don't forget your damn swimsuit," he had yelled behind him, leaving you to wonder why he was so damn happy at this hour of the morning.

\---

Now, you're sitting in the passenger seat of his car, texting some of your friends to send you the notes from classes today.

Normally, if this were anyone else, you would brush them off and go to class. But Dave wouldn't take no for an answer and you know that. You glance up briefly from your phone to him, driving with both hands on the wheel, tapping silently to some tune you can't hear. He's got his favorite, worn out pair of jean on, paired with a black tee and some dirty converse. Of course, he doesn't go anywhere without those shades. He's got a sweet little smile glued on his face and you just…

You won't last much longer if he keeps this up. For the last five years, it's taken everything in your power to resist the temptation that is Dave Strider. 

You'd heard about the girls falling over him at bars and waitresses slipping their phone numbers on the back of his checks and never thought twice about it. Now, it makes you jealous.

More than ever, now, you have started paying attention to the way he talks, how he slouches when he watches TV, how he pouts whenever he's bored, and mostly the way he teases you. Harder to ignore how he would get in real close to your face and drop that damn southern accent on you like a ton of bricks. It started getting harder to ignore his natural charm and good looks whenever he talked with you or flirted with you ironically. It started getting harder to keep the blushing and stuttering to a minimum. It was only a matter of time before he started noticing.

It was the teasing that did it, you think. Before, when you were just friends who chatted on the internet and shared a video-call every once in a while, the teasing meant nothing. He'd call you sweetheart and compliment your eyes and used just about every pick-up line in the book, and you would just laugh and brush it off as you and him being super-good friends. 

But then, when you two finally met in person for the first time, you realized that the camera really didn't do his looks that much justice and that he was actually much taller than you and damn, did he always have that attractive accent?

When he suggested you both look at colleges together, you thought you would have a heart attack. It was nerve-wrecking, but you agreed to it anyway. You had laughed at the camera and smiled with a "Yeah, that sounds great, Dave!" 

That was when you knew you were royally screwed. 

You had both decided on some large Texas University that you could both easily get into- and you did. Before you knew it, you had both moved in and started classes, you as a Biology major and Dave as a Music Education major. 

You both spent a lot of time together, considering neither of you knew anyone else and you had both opted out of joining any clubs. You rarely got on each others' nerves and never complained about hanging out with anyone else.

Neither of you have dated anyone else. You had just never dated because you never really found any girls down here that impressive or attractive. You guess you're just waiting out…

The whole thing about Dave never dating anyone kind of surprises you, seeing how popular he is with other girls and, yes, even some guys. Dave had mentioned to you a little while before that he doesn't discriminate between genders and he could really swing either way. You don't know if that had made you more nervous or more jealous.

Yet, whenever a girl came near and batted her eyelashes at him, he would just look past her and yawn or turn and talk to you until she got frustrated and left. It usually ended up with you two doubled over in laughter. 

Though you'd been crushing on him for a while, you found a way to never let it interfere with your friendship. You decided to keep it to yourself and never tell a soul. He is your best bro, after all - above and before anything else. You're not sure you want him to know about how you feel yet. 

So, here you are - halfway into your junior year with nary a chance of Dave ever noticing you in that way.

"Oh," Dave mutters as he turns the wheel and slows down, "I think this is it."

Ahead of you is a hidden driveway of sorts that goes far back into the cluttered woods. He turns onto the dirt road and the ride gets a lot bumpier.

"If we're lucky," he turns and look to you excitedly, "we might make it before sunrise. Oh, damn! I could get some sweet pictures out there."

"What's there to take pictures of?" you ask, your words getting jumbled by the rocks in the road. 

"Oh, you'll see," he tells you, leaning closer to the wheel to get a better control of the car.

About fifteen minutes later, you come to an opening in the woods with a gravel parking lot. There are no other cars here. Dave brings the car to the middle and puts it in park, then shuts off the engine. You both open your doors and step out into the crisp air, stretching your legs.

"I'm guessing this isn't it," you tell him over the hood of the car.

He shakes his head, "No, we gotta do some walking. It'll only take twenty minutes I thi- hey!" he points at you, "I saw that eye-roll. Walking isn't that bad, John. Any more of those, mister, and there'll be no twinkles at the mid-day meal."

"You mean lunch."

"Yes, I mean tha- and HEY there goes another one. You're down on your luck Johnny boy."

You laugh and duck back in the car for your bag. You pull it out, along with some papers from under the seat. "What are these?" You show them above your head so he can see them.

He flinches and runs around the car. "Oh, hey my directions thanks for finding them I'll take those thanks." With that, they're snatched out of your hands and shoved in his back pocket. 

"Alright," you chuckle, "Strange, Dave. Very strange."

"Let's just get walking, ok?"

"Fine, fine." You sling your bag over your shoulder and fall into step with him, heading towards the trail on the other side of the lot.

As you travel farther and farther in, the more creatures you can hear and the thicker the shrubbery gets. The sun is just starting to leak through the branches, which makes Dave pick his pace up.

"I need those pictures, dude. Come on, they're for my final." He starts jogging moderately. You whine and pick your pace up too.

"Oh, so THAT's why we're here…"

"No, shut up that's not the only reason!" he scoffs and turns to face you, jogging backwards.

"Oh really now?"

He turns back around. "Come on, slow-poke. No, you're not a slow-poke- you're a molasses-prod. A snail-joust."

"Shut uuuup." You push his back and he stumbles.

"Don't push me!"

You two end up jogging until you reach a clearing. When you do, Dave lifts up his camera a snaps a few shots while you stand and take it in in awe.

There's a waterfall. A waterfall! It's about two stories high. There's a sloping, grassy hill leading up to the top of it. Why didn't you hear it before? It comes tumbling down on some mossy rocks and into this enormous pool. There's still some mist above it in the early morning.

So that's why you need a swimsuit. 

There's plenty of grass around the edges of it to sit around it, a ton of trees and large boulders as terrain for Dave and Bro's training. The light's coming in through the abundance of trees and staining the glassy pool with hues of orange and silver. This place…

This place is beautiful. 

"Wow! This place is great, Dave!"

"Yeah." Smirk. 

Snap.

You turn a smile at him. He smiles back.

Snap.

"Dave!" You shield your face. "No!"

"You never let me take pictures of you," he mopes through the lens. 

"Yeah, no, they don't do me any justice, ok?" He shrugs and turns back to the clearing. You nudge him lightly. "Come on! Let's go!"

You both make your way out to the center. You stick your hands in your pockets and follow him around as he takes a few pictures of the flowers scattered around and the sun in the trees.

There are plenty of silences, and you wouldn't consider the awkward, but it's not like him to be this silent. He's concentrating way too hard on these pictures. He does try to sneak a few with you in them, but you always turn right before the shutter snaps. He tusks in disappointment and continues on his way. 

He's at it for about half an hour, snapping random pictures of whatever he pleases. Suddenly, he looks up from crouching over one particular ladybug on a rock and faces you. "Let's go swimming now."

You scoff and take one hand out of your pocket to point. "I think you missed one flower over there, though. Let's go back."

He reaches out and slaps your leg. "Don't be a wiseass Egbert, this is art."

You smile, recoil and kick back, sending him toppling over. "You're the wiseass, wiseass."

You do help him up and you make your way over to the edge of the pool. You look over the edge into the water. It's pretty clear. You can see the rocks and sediment below, along with both of your glassy reflections.

"Is it usually cold?"

"Nah."

In the reflection, you see Dave turn and pull his shirt over his head.

Shiiiit.

Ok, you know you've seen him without a shirt before. You share a room with him. He does it all the time. He walks around the apartment with no shirt on and you've hardly ever taken notice. Why is it so bad now?

You turn coolly and face a very shirtless, very…er… toned Dave. You internally squeal like a twelve year old girl. You can see one big scar reaching from his left armpit to about half-way down his chest. 

Wow. Training has done him so much good. So much good.

You try not to dwell on it too long and look back up to him. He's giving you a questioning look.

"Aren't you going to change before you swim? That's usually what people do."

Shit.

"John?"

Shiiiiiiiiiit. "Uhh."

He put his arms on his hips. He pauses and then smirks. "Tell me you forgot."

"I-"

"You forgot." He tsks and shakes his head at the ground. "John, John, John."

You shuffle in place and bite your lip. 

"Well, there's only one solution," he look back up at you. You wince.

"I'll bring it next time-" "Just swim in your underwear-"

"What?" "What?"

You gape at him. "You're serious?"

He shrugs. "Why not?" He slings his back forward and starts opening it. He looks back at you again, still standing there. "Oh come on, John. Wearing your undies while swimming is basically the same thing as wearing your…" He shuffles around in his bag. "Swimsuit." More shuffling. "Swimsuit." Frantic shuffling. "Swimsssssshit."

You slowly cross your arms as a smirk spreads across your face. He sullenly looks back up at you. 

"I-"

"You left it in the car." Your smirk grows to record-breaking size.

"Shut up." He shoves everything back in the bag and throws it in the ground.

"Well," you rock on your heels, feeling your prankster gambit rise. "Guess what that means?"

He huffs. "I can go back."

"Nope! That's cheating!"

"How is that cheating?"

You shrug and rock forward again. "Are you chicken?"

"Not as chicken as you! What is this, a game of gay chicken now?"

"I was going to! You didn't give me any time to do anything first! And maybe it is!"

"OK!" Dave hooks his thumbs on his belt loops and gives you a threatening look. "Don't make me!"

"Are you threatening me with taking your pants off?"

"Maybe!" 

You laugh and try to contain yourself. "Dude!"

He makes another motion like he's going to and tweaks his head up in a warning.

"Ok, ok, look!" You remove your shirt quickly, removing your glasses after. He watches you intently, never moving. 

You hook your thumbs in the loops of your shorts. "We're both grown men here. Let's act like it."

"Dude this is so homo."

"Shut up. Is not." It is. "On three. One."

"Two."

"Three." "Three."

You slide yours down and kick them off quickly before standing back up.

Holy. Shit.

Hooolllly shit.

Pranksters gambit falling dangerously low! Abort!

Dave stands, staring silently at you. "What?" he asks after a few seconds.

You clear your throat. "I just," you stutter and motion. He slips his shades off and throws them with his other stuff. He turns back to apprehend you with his hands on his hips. "I just never took you for a briefs kind of guy," you finish your thought.

"… You either," he murmurs after a second of thought.

Yes. He most certainly…

Oh god.

Before either of you can say another word, he takes a running jump into the water. The splash comes up and hits you, sending you running. 

He resurfaces and spits some water out, laughing heartily. The water comes to about his belly-button, so it's not too deep. You slink back over, trying your best to cover yourself. 

He scoffs and splashes some water up. "Come on, John. It's fine, I'm not judging you or anything. I did it- you can too."

"But," you nod your head slightly, "Dave this IS totally homo, in case you haven't noticed. Two guys, swimming together alone, in their underwear…"

He rolls his eyes and slicks his hair back. "Well yeah, but it's only homo if you make it." He wiggles his eyebrows and lids his eyes, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back. "You wan' it to be, babe?"

"Oh my god," you squeak. You face must be brighter than the sun.

"Just get in here, Egbert." He slams his hands on the water and moves back slightly.

You keep covering yourself as much as you can until you're safe in the water. Once you're in, you finally look him in the face.

"Now what?"

He shrugs and sinks down into the water until his shoulders are submerged. "Just swim around and relax I guess. S'what we came here for." 

"Sounds good to me," you tell him, submerging yourself too.

You spend a good hour wading around the pool. You talk about life and school and whatever else comes to mind. After a while, Dave suggests you explore around a little. You agree and both start treading over, closer to the waterfall. By surprise, you discover that the ground gives out as you get closer to it. You're actually swimming by the time you close to the base of the falls. 

After a while, Dave finds an entrance that brings you behind the falls. You both quickly head through it, Dave first. You both have to duck underwater, beneath some stone to really get behind it. Underneath, water drips from high stone walls and into the more placid water behind. It's darker, but the light coming through the water is enough. There's a ledge, so you can both lift your heads above water while standing. It's a smaller ledge, so you have to stand a little closer together than is comfortable for you. You're look up above at the light coming through the falls when you lose your footing. Dave's grabs your arms and pulls you back in time. You turn to thank him, but his face is too close to yours. You would turn and look away, but his hand and steady gaze keep you there.

"Uh… thanks."

"Don't mention it." 

You gaze drifts across his face, to his eyes. He's staring at your lips, and you find yourself eyeing his carefully. You're just close enough that you could close the gap if you wanted to… He might even let you.

A few beats pass before he slowly lets go, and turns back to the waterfall. 

"It's getting kinda cold," he muses, "Let's head back."

You're still mesmerized, but you choke out an agreement anyway. 

Soon enough, you're pulling yourself out of the pool and onto the ledge fist, Dave treading water behind.

"I didn't bring a towel or anything, Dave. It was pretty stupid of me, I guess," You can hear a splattering of water as he pulls himself out behind you. "Do you have any- thaagrh"

Your back hits the ground as you're assaulted. You're about to yell, but your lips are pressed forcefully against your own. They're smooth, waxy and wet, gliding against your own. You gulp the yells back into your throat and strain your neck to meet the kiss equally. 

When you break away, your chest is heaving and your heart is pounding. Your chest is just barely touching his with every inhale as he leans over you. Those lips linger and brush past your jaw, to your ear.

"You make it so damn difficult," you hear him whisper, and your heart accelerates. "Why the hell did you have to go and make yourself so hard to resist?"

You swallow as best as you can. "How do you mean?" you whisper hoarsely. You honestly couldn't come up with anything better if you tried.

He laughs, a puff of breath against you neck. He presses a slow kiss below your ear and it takes everything in you not to die right on the spot.

"Seriously, John? I've been dropping the most obvious hints ever since I first saw your stupid fucking grin on that computer screen about how fucking adorable you are… Day one, I was pretty much addicted to you."" He uses one hand to smooth up and down your right side, sending shiver up your spine. You keep staring right ahead, up into the sun-speckled trees. Is this real? He continues blabbering on. "But you never even noticed. Living with that has been torture. Then you go and tell me that we have to spend the whole day together in our fucking underwear? Dude! If that is not the most cruel-"

You can't take it anymore. You reach out and brush one hand up at his side like he did. His sentence is cut off short in surprise as a chill runs through him. He quickly brings his face back to meet yours, pressing his forehead to yours with a small smirk. With that, you bring your other arm up and pull him flush against you. His skin is hot and damp like yours, but you don't care because his lips are suddenly on yours and nothing's tasted sweeter.

At first it's a tangle of limbs and you can't tell which ways up- you both might have rolled a few times, but his lips never leave yours. You know that you're underneath him now, judging by the weight pressing down on you. However, you feel weightless. Your mind is a rush of euphoria, some of it your being kissed, most your being kissed by Dave. Actually, all you being kissed by Dave. 

The thought of Dave actually kissing all of you almost makes you faint, but you're preoccupied with the sensation of him sucking on your lower lip and prodding the upper one with his tongue. You moan a little before opening your mouth wider and letting him in.

You would grab onto his shirt if you could, but since there's a pleasant absence of that, you resolve to tugging on the back of his hair. He moans low into the kiss when you do and presses even closer to you. It's getting a little harder to ignore the fact that the only thing between you guys is yours and his undergarments. You'd been trying not the think about it, but now it was just getting annoying. 

You're feeling a little daring, and it may just be the adrenaline doing it, but you gather up the nerve to bring your hands back to the curve of his ass, pulling down as you buck your hips up into his. 

Dave's lips stutter and he pulls back. Oh, shit. Nope. Nope, you've done it. Shit. 

He smiles down at you and

Holy shit, he grinds back down on you. He keeps eye contact with those smoldering, molten eyes. You close your eyes and gasp into his neck. 

"Oooo, babe," he sort of growls into your ear, "the things you do to me…"

"Oh, gay chicken is so over," you huff back through breaths.

"Boy, you bet it is," he mumbles as he nips at your collarbone and neck. You tighten your grip on his hair as he bites and kisses back over the marks, all the while moving his hips delicately against yours. He seems to get a thrill out of every moan and gasp you make. 

You feel his lips make their way back to your own and it feels like they're burning wherever they touch. He kisses you again with a bruising force, tracing your sides with his hands and moving his hips sinfully slow. 

You let him. Oh, man do you let him. You've been waiting just about a million years for this, and you're too shocked to even comprehend it. Too stimulated. 

Eventually, the kisses get softer and slower- more affectionate than needy. First he kisses just your lips, then over your face and chest. Then, back to your lips again. You knead his back and smooth his hair, kissing him whenever you can. 

Soon, you're both lying there, breathing, kissing lazily from time to time. 

At one point, Dave grabs you and rolls so you're lying on top of him. You take advantage of that to kiss his chin, neck, collarbone… anywhere you can, really.

Eventually, you close your eyes just lie on his chest, the sun baking your already-dry back. You trace lazy patterns into his side and he strokes your hair. He slowly reaches his hand up above his head, but you're too preoccupied to care. You listen to his breathing and heartbeat, cheek against his smooth chest.

Snap.

Your eyes flash open and you're greeted with a camera lens.

Snap.

"Dave."

"John."

"No."

He peeks from behind it. "Oh, come on."

"Dave, I said no." You bring a hand up to shield your face from any more shots. 

You hear him sigh and set the camera aside. He reaches up and grabs your protective hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing every tip of your fingers. You watch him, turning your head and leaning your chin against his chest. 

"Listen," he starts.

"I'm listening."

"Shut up, dork, I'm talking," he mumbles as he kisses your nose. 

"Real threatening," you giggle.

He eyes you cautiously before continuing. "I've been trying to get a good picture of you since, well… ever." He reaches out for the camera and holds it close to him. "But you never let me. You always say you don't look good enough or some shit, but… you do. And there's nothing I would love to remember more than this moment right now."

You mull it over, and he watches you in suspense, camera at the ready. 

Oh, damn. He's giving you those puppy dog eyes and shit. You can't say no.

"Hmmmmmm…" you kiss his chest nervously, "Alright. Fine. But only under one condition." He nods, so you continue. "You have to tell me why."

"Why what?"

"Why me?"

He frowns. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

He sighs, snaps a surprise shot, then sets it aside again. He rolls over and you squeak in surprise, because you're trapped under him once again. He eases back onto you and starts lightly kissing your neck again. Your eyes close again and sigh happily.

"You? Because you're you," he tells you between kisses, "It always had to be you. You, my dear John, are one of *kiss* the kindest *kiss* dorkiest *kiss* handsomest and *kiss* mmmmm…"

He trails off, buries his face in your neck, and holds you as close as he can.

You slowly reach up and grab his camera. It feels heavy and foreign, but you gather it into position and take a picture of him.

Snap.

He lifts his head quickly and smiles at you. 

Snap.

"Hey, that's my job!" he scoffs, wrestling it from you. Once he does, he takes some more shots of you from above. You feel so awkward lying on the ground, looking up at him. 

"Dave, I don't know what to do. What should I do?"

"Well, just be yourself." 

"I am being myself- awkward."

He rolls his eyes. "I don't know. Do something daring."

"Daring?"

"Yes, that's what I said. Daring."

You smirk up at him. "Fine." You push him over to the side so he's lying on his back again. You roll over and straddle his waist, splaying your hands across his chest. "How about this?"

He looks elated. He snaps a few more pictures.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

You rub your hands up and down his chest, and he lowers his camera to watch you and your expressions. You can feel the contours of his chest and muscles, the old and new scars that line him stomach and shoulders, like spindles in a web. 

"You know, I've always wanted to do this," you tell him quietly, tracing the biggest scar across his chest. A solemn smile etches your features. He lifts the camera briefly.

Snap.

He puts it back down. 

"God, you have no idea how many years I've wanted to just… do this," you almost whisper. He continues watching your face in silence, not moving while you carefully feel his shoulders. "I was beginning to think I never would. I had no idea…"

"John, get up a minute."

"Whhyyyyy?" you whine, "I was just starting to t-"

He pushes you off anyway and makes his way over to a rock a few feet away. You lay back and start rubbing your eyes, wishing Dave would come back. After a minute, Dave's voice reaches across the distance.

 _When Rome's in ruins,_  
We are the lions,  
Free of the colosseum 

Is that a fucking guitar?

_In poison places,_  
We are anti venom,  
We're the beginning of the end. 

You stand up slowly. Your legs are kind of sore, but you ignore it. Dave is sitting on a nearby rock. The papers from earlier are laid out on his knee. He's reading off of them and strumming the guitar that he probably BROUGHT EARLIER, the sly bastard. 

"Did you plan this?" you ask above his strumming, smiling.

He smiles back.

He… he planned this whole goddamned trip.

_But tonight, the foxes hunt the hounds,_  
It's all over now, before it has begun,  
We've already won. 

He was fucking PLANNING THIS. You could die from happiness.

"Are you serenading me? Are you wooing me, Strider?" you ask loudly.

He sings even louder, his grin growing. He's now standing and walking towards you slowly.

_We are wild,_  
We are like young volcanoes.  
We are wild,  
Americana, exotica  
Do you wanna feel a little beautiful, baby, yeah! 

If there was one thing you never expected to see today, it was Dave Strider, with messy bed-head hair, in nothing but his underwear, walking towards you seductively, holding a guitar and singing Fall Out Boy. Seductively. 

_Come on, make it easy!_  
Say I never mattered,  
Running up the flagpole. 

You grab the camera next to you and hold it in position. You have to save this.

_We will teach you how to make boys next dooo-o-o-or  
Out of ass-holes._

You laugh.  
Snap.

_But tonight-_

Snap.

You join in.

_The foxes hunt the hounds,_  
It's all over now, before it has begun  
We've already won.  
We are wild.  
We are like young volcanoes.  
We are wild.  
Americana, exotica,  
Do you wanna feel a little beautiful, baby, yeah! 

You snap another picture-

Snap.

-and put the camera down to clap loudly. 

He puts the guitar down and hurries back over to you, wrapping you in an enormous hug.

"How'd I do?" he asks, breathless from the singing.

You snort. "Did you practice that in your underwear, or was that a once in a life-time sort of deal?"

He laughs and squeezes you. "Nope, that is a genuine, one-in-a-life-time Egbert offer. Hope you enjoyed it, John. You'll never see the likes of that again."

"Won't I?"

"Only if you ask nicely," he adds, kissing the top of your head.

"Or…" you smile devilishly. With that, you swing him and use the momentum to throw him into the water. You may be smaller, but your strength is something to be bragged about!

Dave resurfaces and shouts, "Not fair! Friggin' cheater!" He yells again when you jump off the edge, splashing him as you land.

You swim up to him and fling your arms around his shoulders, kissing him lightly a few times. You finally pull away and smile shyly.

"I loved it."

He beams down at you like he just won the fucking grand prize.

~

===> John: Be the other guy, but two days earlier.

That's a little demanding! But you'll do it anyway.

You're now the other guy, and it's approximately 43 hours earlier before the current point in time.

You stand in the clearing, silently apprehending your surroundings. It's just like you remembered. Exactly like you remembered, actually. It's like this place is a fixed point in time- cut off from the rest of reality and frozen in space. Bro always loved this place. That's why he would bring you out here for weeks at a time. Mostly, it was for training and exercising, but he also like it because of the 'aesthetic beauty'. Of course at the time you thought it was torture- no wifi, no telephone, no television- this place sucked. Now that you're older, you understand why he digged it so much. 

You tighten your grip on the case on your shoulder and trudge forward, across the wet grass to the rocks near the water. Once you find a suitable place, you drop the case and start popping the clasps open. You retrieve the guitar, find the least damp rock to sit on, and start tuning.

John has classes until 7 tonight, so you have a few hours to get it right. You sing the song again and again, messing up more than perfecting it. You start getting frustrated. What if he doesn't like it? Should you stand or sit? What if he rejects you? What if the song isn't right? What happens if you mess up in front of him?

You take a deep breath. Don't worry, everything will be fine. Don't get nervous. Just pretend he's in his underwear or something. Isn't that what most people do during performances?

You may or may not have blushed a little at the thought of Egbert in his underwear.

Wait, no, back to business. 

You realize after a few more tries that the song is just about as good as it's going to get. You carefully place the instrument back in its case and shove it behind a clump of rocks so it's concealed from sight. You fold the papers up and put them in your pocket, making your way back to the entrance.

You think about how surprised that little dork'll be. You smile.

If this doesn't work, you don't know what will.

~

===> Be the other other boy again, present time, but some hours in the future.

No, you ask too much.

===> Please?

Fine.

You are now the other other boy again, present time, but a some hours in the future.

You're in the car, on the way back to the apartment.

You had continued swimming, exploring, kissing (!!!), talking, and taking pictures for a while. You both had a late lunch (twinkles included!) and then continued swimming until the sun started its descent in the sky. You were starting to get tired, so you told him so.

He insisted that you wait until you had dried off some before you head back. You'd complained a little, but he just led you over to a patch of grass in the sun, sat down, dragged you down into his lap, and kissed you happily until you shut up.

Much, much later, long after the both of you had dried off, he gathered up both of your clothes and other belongings and brought them back over. You pulled your shorts and shirt back on, Dave resolving to pull his jeans on and leave his shirt dangling on his shoulder. He retrieved his shades and propped them up on his head, instead of wearing them. He found his guitar case, slung it over his other shoulder, and headed back over to you. When he was alongside you, he had grabbed your bags and your hand, intertwining his fingers with yours.

"Got everything?" he had asked.

"Yeah," you had responded. You both took one last look around the place. Dave promised you would visit it again soon. You hope he's right.

The walk back was uneventful and calm. You spent most of it looking around at the surroundings. You thought about the difference between the walk in and this walk back and smiled, squeezing Dave's hand happily. He had smiled back and leaned over to press a chaste kiss to your cheek.

When you got back to the car, he had loaded the case in the back, gotten in, and you were on your way back.

So, now, you're sitting in the passenger seat, dozing off and listening to some band you've never heard of play quietly through the speakers. 

Dave hasn't said much, but you assume mostly because he's concentrating on driving. He also probably thinks you're asleep by now.

You shift so you're leaning against the car door, head propped lazily against the window, eyes drooping.

"Dave?"

He jumps suddenly, "Shit. I thought you were sleeping."

"Well, I'm not, dumb-ass," you stick your tongue out. He snorts and flicks you off, returning his hand to the wheel quickly.

You reach out and brush some of his hair back, to which he smirks and tilts his head affectionately. 

"Are we boyfriends now?" you ask sleepily.

He snorts again and smiles. "Well, I consider whole 'making out' thing we did today as what boyfriends usually do, don't you?"

You think back and blush. "Well… I… think? Usually, yeah." You pause. "We're going to do that whole thing again, right? Soon?"

He laughs and reaches up to take your hand in his again. "So, it's decided. We are now cutesy-wootsy boyfriendos."

"Dear christ," you scoff, "here we go already."

"I'm thinking I should come up with nicknames for us," he muses, ignoring your snide comment, "Do you want to be peanut butter and i'll be jelly? Other way around? Or! No, you're the pepsi to my cola. No. I think plain old 'shnuggums' is priceless. So ironic."

You reach over and pap him on the face lightly. "I think that's enough now, Dave."

His laugh is genuine now. "I think I'll just go with babe. How's babe, babe?" He looks over at you hopefully.

"I like it," you tell him too quickly.

"'Kay, babe," he turns back forward. He must get such a kick out of calling you that. "What do I get?"

"I don't know!" you laugh, "What about insufferable prick?"

"Lame."

"I'm not good at nicknames."

"Fine. We can share babe."

"Uh ok… babe?" It sounds weird when you say it. He grimaces.

"Don't worry, we'll work on it."

You sigh and lean your head against the window again, still holding his hand.

"And we're still best friends?"

He sighs. "I can't believe you would even have to ask that."

"Just making sure!" you squeak defensively.

"Yes, John, we are still the best of friends to walk this earth or any other like it." He squeezes your hand. "Best boyfriendos."

"The best!" you add.

"The best." He smoothes your fingers with his thumb. It's comforting.

"The best," you mumble sleepily.

"The best."

You both repeat 'the best' back and forth like idiots until you fall asleep, Dave still holding your hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment, saying whatcha feel!


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